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GianCarlo Moschini

  • Prof and Pioneer Chair in Science and Technology Policy, Iowa State U, 2000-present
  • Prof, Associate Prof and Assistant Prof, Iowa State U, 1987-2000
  • Visiting Prof, U of Siena, 1994-95
  • Lecturer, U of Guelph, 1986-87
  • Ricercatore, Catholic U of Piacenza, 1984
  • Ph.D., U of Guelph, 1986 (with distinction)
  • Laurea, Catholic U of Piacenza, 1978 (magna cum laude)
  • WAEA Outstanding Published Research Award, 2002
  • AAEA Quality of Research Discovery Award, 1999
  • WAEA Outstanding Published Research Award (honorable mention), 1998
  • AAEA Outstanding Journal Article Award, 1994
  • WAEA Outstanding Journal Article Award, 1993
  • AAEA Quality of Research Discovery Award (honorable mention), 1991
  • CAEFMS Best Journal Article Award (honorable mention), 1989
  • AAEA Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award, 1987
  • Editor, AJAE, 1998-2000
  • Associate Editor, AJAE, 1992-1997
  • Advisory Board, JAFIO, 2002-present

GianCarlo Moschini has made substantial contributions to the agricultural economics profession through sustained research efforts that have resulted in high-quality publications in several distinct areas of agricultural economics, and through dedicated and unselfish service to his institution and to the AAEA.

Moschini's work on modeling demand systems has provided insightful results on the rigorous application of key theoretical constructs to real world data. He has extended the usefulness of separability to specify and estimate parsimonious but complete demand systems, has shown how to handle the crucial curvature property, has developed a new specification of mixed demand systems, a new specification for inverse demand systems, and a new multistage demand system. He was also an early student of the issue of structural change in meat demand.

Moschini has made significant contributions to the study of decisions under risk, with emphasis on farmer hedging problems. His work with Harvey Lapan led to the first rigorous analysis of the joint use of options and futures in a competitive production and speculative framework and provided key insights on the hedging roles of options and futures in two additional novel settings: when the timing of production decisions allows for flexibility in the choice of some inputs, and when farmers also face production risk, in addition to price and basis risk. He has also written on the empirical estimation and testing of optimal hedging models and of farmer response to risk. Moschini's other work on agricultural production problems displays a sustained interest in the joint application of microeconomic duality and econometrics. His study of the estimation of cost functions when production is stochastic has provided new critical insights. He also has pioneered the use of restricted profit functions to analyze a quota-constrained production setting, has investigated a novel approach to testing for separability in production, and has developed an original semiparametric approach for testing returns to scale.

In his work on agricultural and trade policy problems, Moschini provided interesting insights into Canadian supply management issues, as well as the earliest lucid analyses of the concept of tariffication, which was subsequently adopted by the World Trade Organization. He also has studied countervailing duties in the hog and pork sector, decoupling of farm programs under distortionary taxation, and the stabilization of price policies. He has contributed to the economics of innovations as well. Particularly noteworthy is his work on the effects of intellectual property rights on the evaluation of the size and distribution of returns to research.

Moschini has contributed to the public good by tireless and unselfish support of AAEA activities. He has served on AAEA committees, was an AJAE associate editor for an extended period, and served as an AJAE editor (1998-2000) together with Spiro Stefanou, Richard Sexton, and Kathleen Segerson, pioneering an innovative editorial structure still in use today. As editor, Moschini provided intellectual leadership, efficiency, and fairness, and he was always mindful of the stewardship responsibilities of maintaining the quality and standards that the AJAE is known for internationally.

Moschini grew up on a dairy and tomato farm in Northern Italy, which his family still works today. He earned a Laurea degree in agricultural sciences at the Catholic University of Piacenza, but his early interest in science shifted to economics as a result of his commitment to understanding agriculture's structural and policy problems. Moschini earned a PhD degree at the University of Guelph, and he has spent the bulk of his professional career at Iowa State University.

GianCarlo Moschini's efforts have undoubtedly made a difference to the agricultural economics profession. Colleagues commenting on his work emphasize its breadth, relevance, rigor, elegance, and clarity. The profession has recognized the quality of his contributions with many awards, including the AAEA Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award, the AAEA Outstanding Journal Article Award, and the AAEA Quality of Research Discovery Award.